«Sphere of the Intimate» exhibition cycle presented at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art was created by Vasil Hannanov in an amazingly short span of time — 3 summer months in 2003. The genre of this project is hard to define, as it comprises paintings, objects, and performance. The cycle includes imprint-paintings, with original impressions left by the bodies of the author and other participants in the project.

With folds on the sheets, Vasil Hannanov was set to capture the information carried by the soul, which is expressed through body curves and warmth. In a way, these huge sheets mounted on canvas are nude images made by the body itself. But quite unlike a life drawing, these images render the inner world, and play down the corporality. The artist’s task here is rather technical; it is in fixing the folded landscape without interfering.

«Sphere of the Intimate» exhibition cycle includes 5 series: «Body Memory», «Heaven Angels», «The Four Seasons», «Music of the Spheres», as well as separate paintings on individual subjects. «The Four Seasons» was largely inspired by the music, poems, and memories of the nights spent in that season. And the «Music of Spheres» was co-produced by the artist and his son, Chingis Hannanov, a violinist. In this creative union, the artist followed the musician’s lead on the sense of proportions, colors and forms, and that is how «Bach», «Beethoven», «Mozart», «Tchaikovsky», «Chopin», and «Paganini» were born. This was followed by interpretations of paintings by famous masters, Picasso, Manet, Velasquez.

Vasil Hannanov on «Sphere of the Intimate»:

The inner world of a person, his character and way of thinking, are always exteriorized — every movement or position of the body manifests a certain state of mind. It is this state that the artists strive to depict, the more talented, the closer the match.

The relations between the artist and the canvas are diverse and endless, it’s hard to frame them, to pin them down. I was trying to capture the subtlety of these relations.

Of course, the works are permeated by play, imagination, and heightened sexuality. Art is an intimate process. It’s all very nuanced, and I won’t be surprised if the viewers don’t understand it right away, since it surpasses their expectations of what can be seen in a painting.

The work on the cycle is not complete, and, it seems, never will be. I may go back to it sometime. Because «God is in our bedrooms every night».

Biography:

Vasil Hannanov was born on September 26, 1956 in Oktyabskiy city, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. In 1979, he graduated from the Ufa College of Art. Vasil has been actively exhibiting since 1980. He is a painter, a graphic, as well as assemblage, installation, and performance artist. Vasil has the title of the Honored Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan. He is the head of the «Chingiz Khan» creative association. In 2002, Vasil Hannanov opened the Nail Latfullin Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Bashkortostan. He is the Chief Editor of «HighArt» magazine. He lives and works in Ufa.